Conventionally, a robot controller is provided as a system integrated with a robot body. Therefore, even if a network corresponding function is intended to be added, a dedicated network system must be constructed, so that the development thereof requires a vast amount of man-hours and takes a long period of time. In addition, it is next to impossible for the user to change a robot control software on the basis of an individual specification.
As the typical prior art, there is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-64618, which discloses a construction for displaying the operating state of a robot body via a network. However, in this prior art, there is no device for decreasing the amount of transmission information of the network serving as a communication line and for managing an application program.
A typical robot control software is supplied as a dedicated system integrated with a robot controller, and does not operate on any general-purpose personal computers and/or any general-purpose operating system (OS). For that reason, there are the following problems (1) and (2). That is, (1) since the software is supplied as the integrated dedicated system, it is impossible for the user to develop the software on the basis of the individual specification. In addition, (2) since the dedicated system is used, when the software operating on the network is developed, the network system itself must be newly developed, so that it is very difficult to develop the software.